The West Sacramento Fire Department, in conjunction with the West Sacramento Firefighters’ Association, is preparing for the annual “Santa Run” through West Sacramento. With the help of many off-duty firefighter “elves,” Santa
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By Jan Dalske for the News Ledger Bill Kristoff will officially retire on November 16th when he attends his last city council meeting. His friends, family and colleagues came together recently at
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Where the Delta came from

SEABIRDS on a flooded Delta Island (courtesy of Tuleyome)

GUEST COMMENTARY FROM THE NEWS-LEDGER — MAY 9, 2012 —

By Glen HolsteinTuleyome Organization

Fifteen thousand years ago what became California had no Delta and was in a very different world in which much of North America and Europe were covered by vast continental ice sheets. By then people occupied most of the eastern hemisphere but few, if any, had yet reached the Americas.

Then what is now central California’s coastline was 26 miles west of its present location. The Farallons were then not islands but coastal headlands overlooking an open ocean dropping abruptly to great depths. What is now the continental shelf was a vast dry land plain bisected by an ancestral Sacramento River swollen to great volume by melting glaciers then widespread in the Sierra Nevada. It entered the Pacific south of the Farallons and flowed through the Coast Range 300 feet below present water level in deep canyons at what are now the Golden Gate and Carquinez Strait.

The climate then along the lower Sacramento was much like the present coast of southern Alaska and British Columbia, but the world was warming. The great continental ice sheets began retreating, and their meltwater caused seas to rise everywhere. By ten thousand years ago they neared the present shoreline and by eight thousand had entered the Golden Gate.

[adrotate group=”7″] People were definitely in what would become California by then and had established villages in a broad valley just inside the outermost Coast Range ridge. Soon, however, rising seas following the ancestral Sacramento River’s channel inland completely flooded their valley and created what later arrivals would call San Francisco Bay. Inexorably seas pushed farther inland flooding more valleys and creating new bays like San Pablo and Suisun until they finally stopped near the present Montezuma Hills five thousand years ago.

There freshwater flowing downstream from the Sierras and Cascades through the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers met seawater flowing inland through the Golden Gate. They mixed some, but the freshwater mostly flowed outward some distance in a shallow lens above the heavier salt water, which also acted as a hydraulic dam to stop most river flow at the Montezuma Hills and cause freshwater to backup and flood a vast area in the lowest part of the Central Valley.

This flooding starting just five thousand years ago created California’s Delta. Because sea level rise was gradual, the flooded area always remained very shallow beyond the deeper river channels and became covered by tall marsh plants called tules. Seas still slowly rose, though, and freshwater in the flooded Delta area also did just slowly enough for each new tule generation to grow on the last’s flooded remains.

[adrotate group=”9″] Eventually the latest tule generation grew on many feet of ancestral organic remains which became the Delta’s famous peat soil. A similar process in the same time period north of East Anglia created England’s famous Fenlands and provided the term fen for similar wetlands around the world. Consequently the Delta is California’s largest fen and one of the largest in the world.

What happened to it next is another tale.

Dr. Glen Holstein received his PhD in Botany from UC Davis and is a Senior Scientist with Zentner and Zentner, a local biological consulting company. Glen is Chapter Botanist for the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society , represents that Chapter at Habitat 2020 and was the California Prairie spokesman at its Wildflower Weekend in April , 2005 . He’s also on the Board of Tuleyome, a non-profit organization working to protect the wild and agricultural heritage of California’s Inner Coast Range and Western Sacramento Valley.

Your old books & DVDs can help

[adrotate group=”10″] FROM THE NEWS-LEDGER —

The West Sacramento Friends of the Library need your donation of gently-used books, DVDs and magazines for their book sales alcove and sale event. Drop off your donations at the bin outside the north wall of the library, at 1212 Merkley Avenue. Sale proceeds benefit library programs.

For information, call 375-6465 or email wsfol99@yahoo.com.

Yes, you can support local journalism, support this website, and see all the News-Ledger’s articles every week! Subscribe to the News-Ledge newspaper. It’s only $20 per year within West Sacramento – once a week, delivered to your mailbox.

You can even try it for free for two months if you live in West Sacramento. Just send your name and mailing address to FreeTrial@news-ledger.com (offer open to new subscribers in West Sacramento ZIP codes 95691 & 95605).

Copyright News-Ledger 2012

‘Mail’ some food to Food Bank May 12

[adrotate group=”7″] FROM THE NEWS-LEDGER —

Local postal carriers will again collect nonperishable food items to support the annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive.

All you have to do is leave a sturdy bag with nonperishable items such as canned soup, veggies, pasta, rice or cereal next to your mailbox before mail is picked up on Saturday, May 12. Or drop off your food banks directly at the beneficiary, the Yolo County Food Bank, at 1244 Fortna Avenue, Woodland.

The News-Ledger ‘Police Log,’ May 2

FROM THE NEWS-LEDGER — MAY 2, 2012 —

Information for this ‘Police Log’ has come directly from original police reports and documents. The information includes citizen complaints and other statements that have not substantiated or proven by an investigation or a courtroom.

April 24, 9:06 a.m.
A Southport parent reported that a 16-year old daughter was in a sexual relationship with a 20-year old man.

April 24, 2:52 p.m.
A resident of West Capitol Avenue visited the police lobby. The citizen said a neighbor had a cannabis card and was growing a lot of marijuana plants. The citizen wasn’t sure if this large number of plants was legal, and was also concerned about the smell of the plants.

April 24, 9:45 p.m.
A citizen said that a Russian-speaking man with white hair, a large belly and a walking street had been approaching children near Stonegate Elementary when school let out. Extra patrols were requested.

[adrotate group=”7″] April 25, 1:08 a.m.
A man reported that he gave a $100 bill to a woman at an apartment complex on the 2400-block of West Capitol, because she said she would make change. The woman then went into her apartment and slammed the door on him, refusing to come back out. She also displayed a knife, but didn’t threaten him with it.

April 25, 7:25 a.m.
A boat was stolen during the night from a Betty Way home.

April 25, 2:59 p.m.
At a motel on western West Capitol Avenue, a woman complained of ongoing harassment from a downstairs neighbor. The other woman recently “threw tuna fish at (her) and called her satanic.”

April 25, 3:24 p.m.
A man reported a court order violation in Southport: his child’s mother had blocked his phone number so he couldn’t call the child. The woman also was in the habit of leaving the 9- and 11-year old children alone for extended periods of time.

April 25, 3:39 p.m.
Reported by a mother at the Westmore Oaks Elementary School campus: An ex-husband “went to (their) daughter’s school a short time ago, and met with (the daughter) and gave her birthday gifts, in violation of a child custody order.”

[adrotate group=”10″] April 25, 5:16 p.m.
A resident of Molokai Road discovered damage to a garage door. The damage may have been caused in a failed burglary attempt.

April 26, 10:22 a.m.
A citizen reported that a man had been using tools to try to get into the door of a vacant home on Tahoe Street that was in foreclosure. The subject had arrived in a pickup truck with a lawnmower in it.

April 26, 11:48 a.m.
A north-area woman said her son was harassing her and taking money from her. The son also keeps visiting her at night, although he is unwelcome, makes false accusations, and is “trying to get (her) into a convalescent home.”

April 26, 1:22 p.m.
A woman reported that a vehicle may have been following her near on Tuesday near Jefferson and Southport Parkway. She said she became concerned after reading a newspaper account that someone in a car may have been impersonating a police officer (and may have “pulled over” another woman’s vehicle).

April 26, 2:26 p.m.
A man rented a room on the 900-block of West Capitol, but found “the room wasn’t up to his standards and the manager won’t refund (his) money.”

April 26, 9:03 p.m.
Police and firefighters responded to a mobilehome fire on the 1300-block of West Capitol. Firefighters called the fire “suspicious,” and said it could be the result of arson.

April 26, 11:30 p.m.
On the 1300-block of Halyard Drive, a man from Elk Grove discovered someone had broken the windshield and slashed all four tires on his vehicle.

April 27, 9:48 a.m.
The catalytic converter was reported stolen from a 1994 Toyota pickup truck parked on Maple Street.

April 27, 11:20 a.m.
A concerned citizen said there was a man on 19th Street shooting arrows from a bow. The citizen didn’t know what the archer was firing at.

April 27, 3:01 p.m.
A witness on Pine Street saw somebody take the registration sticker from a Honda’s license plate and put it on the plate of a red Mercury Cougar. The subject was still at the scene.

April 27, 4:49 p.m.
Someone took prescription medication, a backpack and an iPad from an unlocked car at Stonegate Elementary.

April 27, 6:02 p.m.
Catalytic converters were reported stolen from vehicles on Pecan Street and (shortly afterwards) on Walnut Circle.

[adrotate group=”9″] April 27, 9:18 p.m.
A Maple Street woman said that about an hour earlier, she “heard her dog yelp and found a hole in its cheek.” She “believes it’s the neighbors” who injured the dog, “since they are the only ones she’s having problems with.” She was trying to get treatment for the dog.

April 28, 2:03 a.m.
A man called police from a pay phone on C Street. He said “someone stole his shoes about 30 minutes ago while he was sleeping.”

April 28, 7:00 a.m.
A Willow Avenue garage was found burglarized. Items missing included power tools, a bike and an iPod, worth a total of around $2,700.

April 28, 8:29 a.m.
In the north-area, a resident told a dispatcher that a sister had been given an eviction notice a month ago. The sister was refusing to leave and was “throwing household cleaners all over the house.”

April 28, 11:27 a.m.
Someone broke the rear window of a Prius parked on Savannah Lane during the night.

April 28, 1:11 p.m.
A vehicle on Aruba Street was reported burglarized. A window was broken and unspecified items were missing.

April 28, 1:19 p.m.
An owner visited a property on Evergreen Avenue and found that two men and two women were “squatting” in the residence.

April 28, 3:38 p.m.
A woman asked for advice. She said a possibly-known suspect had hijacked her Facebook account and was posting links to videos that claimed she is a prostitute and urged people to report her to Child Protective Services.

April 28, 5:40 p.m.
A woman called police to report a disturbance involving a 16-year old brother. The caller’s mother and caller’s three-year old were now locked in a bedroom, while the caller and her two-year old were in another. The brother had punched a wall.

April 28, 5:45 p.m.
A 30-year old Arthur Drive woman was detained for shoplifting a $9 pair of brown house slippers at a Riverpoint Circle store. An employee signed a citizen’s arrest and she was cited and released by police.

April 28, 6:20 p.m.
A woman on Harriett Street reported an incident that ended up something like this: she hired a homeless man to help her move. The man went upstairs to use a bathroom, and she then gave him $40 and he took a lunch break. She then discovered a wallet gone from upstairs. The man’s sleeping bag and cell phone were found in her garage.
A camera belonging to her was located stuffed inside a bush out front.
When police responded, an officer contacted the man as he returned, carrying a laptop computer missing from the residence.
The man explained to the officer that “another person gave him the computer while he was walking back to the residence.” He was arrested.

April 28, 7:14 p.m.
A citizen said three boys and two girls – all under age 16 – were “carrying bottles of vodka” as they walked near Ash and Evergreen avenues, and they were “extremely intoxicated.”

April 28, 7:24 p.m.
A fight was reported among members of a wedding party near West Capitol and Poplar.

April 28, 10:36 p.m.
A witness said there was a group of people stealing steel from a property on the 3400-block of Industrial Blvd.

April 28, 12:51 a.m.
A resident of 13th Street called 911 after he or she “heard someone trying to get in the bedroom window.”

April 28, 1:18 a.m.
On the 1600-block of West Capitol, a man with a guitar case was reported “bothering females who are walking up and down the street.”

April 29, 12:24 a.m.
Two men were reported running out of a mobilehome park “after shooting at. . . mobilehomes.”

April 29, 12:28 a.m.
On Holly Street, “someone is tapping on (the caller’s) bedroom window.”

April 29, 12:30 a.m.
A woman said she got out of her car at her Simon Terrace apartment complex, and two subjects robbed her of her purse.

April 29, 12:51 a.m.
A man called from a pay phone on 3rd Street, telling a dispatcher he “wanted to step in front of a train.”

April 29, 6:22 a.m.
Multiple vehicles were found burglarized on Pecan Street. Gone were some baby-shower presents.

April 29, 7:53 a.m.
A woman called from a motel on the 2700-block of West Capitol. She said her boyfriend had taken her belongings, including her car keys – and her cell phone, to try to keep her from calling police.

April 29, 11:01 a.m.
The catalytic converter was reported missing from a vehicle on North Hobson.

April 29, 12:37 p.m.
In an Ikea Court parking lot, there was a man “in a referee-type shirt” seen trying to pick the locks of some cars.

April 29, 1:08 p.m.
A resident said there were about 10 bicyclists on the lawn of a business complex on 3rd Street. The cyclists were refusing to leave and were riding on the lawn.

April 29, 4:21 p.m.
A gas station on the 1700-block of West Capitol reported that the driver of a green Toyota Camry had just driven away with the pump nozzle still in the car. The pump was now damaged. The car was last seen going southbound on Westacre.

April 29, 5:07 p.m.
Two vehicles were in a collision on Promenade Street. The driver of a Dodge Nito said the driver of the other vehicle, a blue Honda Odyssey, was refusing to exchange information and denying involvement in the collision. But the Dodge’s driver said the damage on the Honda was consistent with the accident, and asked for an officer to respond.

April 29, 10:09 p.m.
A Columbus Road resident said someone took a camera from an unlocked vehicle during Thursday night. The neighborhood had experienced problems with petty theft lately.

April 29, 10:45 p.m.
At a market on the 1600-block of West Capitol, there was a man wearing a beanie and a trenchcoat, with an orange jumpsuit underneath, who was “stumbling around and seems to have a hard time walking.”

Yes, you can support local journalism, support this website, and see all the News-Ledger’s articles every week! Subscribe to the News-Ledge newspaper. It’s only $20 per year within West Sacramento – once a week, delivered to your mailbox.

You can even try it for free for two months if you live in West Sacramento. Just send your name and mailing address to FreeTrial@news-ledger.com (offer open to new subscribers in West Sacramento ZIP codes 95691 & 95605).

Copyright News-Ledger 2012

Visitor traffic at WESTSAC.COM, plus some tips on online advertising

NEWS-LEDGER ONLINE — MAY 10, 2012 —

The News-Ledger’s presence on the web is getting bigger all the time.

Six months ago, the News-Ledger launched WestSac.com and revitalized its sister website, News-Ledger.com. Since that launch, visitor traffic has about doubled –and it continues to grow. We expect to double the traffic again in the next six to 12 months, aided partly by a new set of website improvements and upgrades.

So if you want to connect with West Sacramento online, there’s no better choice!

BY THE NUMBERS: Our web traffic from the last 30 days:Monthly Visits: 5,541Monthly Unique Visitors: 4,302Monthly Pageviews: 11,573Average Visit Duration: 1:27
(Data is from Google Analytics, an industry standard traffic analyzer, for the 30 days ending on May 9, 2012.)

ABOUT PLACING AN ADVERTISEMENT ONLINE:

If you’re thinking of advertising your business on the internet for the first time — either on our website or on someone else’s — you will have to learn a few new tricks.

But it’s not rocket science. Here are some of the basics:

DO START by making sure, first of all, that you have your own website — even if yours is a very small business. People use the web to find a business more often than they use the yellow pages these days. Your business needs to be on the web when potential customers are looking for you. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy and very cheap to have a basic business website online (as little as around $10-$15 month if you do it yourself).

[adrotate group=”9″] READY TO BUY AN ONLINE AD? You can’t just scan your business card, pay somebody to put it on their website, and consider yourself to have successfully “advertised on the web.”

When you go shopping for those online ads, here are some things to consider:

Find a website that your potential customers are visiting. If your ad is going to be seen mostly by people outside your customer base (wrong town, wrong gender, wrong age, etc.), then most of your money will be wasted.

What CPM will you pay? The CPM, or cost-per-thousand “impressions,” tells you the rate you are paying for every 1,000 viewers exposed to your ad. Look beyond any flat rate you’re offered, and find out the CPM. Get a guaranteed number of impressions for your dollars.

Ask for a Google Analytics report for the past few months. In the report, understand that a “unique visitor” counts how many different people (actually, computer IP addresses) visited that website over a period of time, and that’s an important number. “Visits” counts total visits, even by repeat customers. “Pageviews” counts the number of website pages viewed by all these visitors on all their visits. Make sure you “compare apples to apples” when navigating through terms like these.

When you pay for an ad on someone’s website, where will they put it? Will it be right next to the website’s prime content — the stuff people go there to see? Or will it be somewhere way down the page? Will it be buried in a clutter of other ads? Get good page position!

Your online ad should not just be a scanned business card. Plan your ad carefully. It should contain a strong special offer or a promise to satisfy the viewer’s curiosity about something. The appeal should be so strong that the viewer will take the time to click on the ad. Aim for an offer that’s bold, simple and compelling — like something of value, free, to help you get a new customer in the door.

Customers will click on your ad to find out more about your business offer. When they click on your ad, they should be redirected — but not to your website’s home page! Where should they be taken? The answer to that question will cost you the price of a cup of coffee with us!

Call Steve Marschke at (916) 371-8030 or email steve@news-ledger.com for more information on advertising at WestSac.com and its sister site, News-Ledger.com.

Copyright News-Ledger 2012

Convicted of abusing 7-year old

FROM THE NEWS-LEDGER — MAY 9, 2012 —

A West Sacramento man was convicted last week of sexually abusing his seven-year old daughter. Part of the evidence included 20 videos on the man’s cell phone showing him engaging in sexual acts with the girl.

[adrotate group=”9″] After police received a report that Michael Martinez had been abusing the girl, they teamed with the FBI in a search of his house. The search turned up the cell phone videos.

According to the office of Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, Martinez initially confessed, but during the trial he denied his guilt. The girl testified.

[adrotate group=”10″] In the courtroom of Yolo County Judge Janet Gaard, a jury on Wednesday found Martinez guilty of 47 counts of child molestation and five counts of “possessing matter depicting sexual acts by a minor.” He will be sentenced on June 25, and faces life in prison.

Yes, you can support local journalism, support this website, and see all the News-Ledger’s articles every week! Subscribe to the News-Ledge newspaper. It’s only $20 per year within West Sacramento – once a week, delivered to your mailbox.

You can even try it for free for two months if you live in West Sacramento. Just send your name and mailing address to FreeTrial@news-ledger.com (offer open to new subscribers in West Sacramento ZIP codes 95691 & 95605).

Copyright News-Ledger 2012

River City High dancers offer recital

RCHS dancers in rehearsal. (Photo courtesy of Memories for Generations by De’Onna Jack)

[adrotate group=”10″] FROM THE NEWS-LEDGER — MAY 9, 2012 —

The dance class at River City High School taught by Constance Anderson offers recital performances tonight, Thursday and Friday (May 9, 10, 11) at 7 p.m. in the school gym.